Perhaps you know that I spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Rome. The primary purpose of my journey was to visit the North American College, the American seminary, and to be the celebrant and homilist …
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I’ve been a fan of the space program for a long time.
I’m old enough to remember standing in the front yard of our home in Pittsburgh in 1957 watching expectantly for the Russian-launched Sputnik to pass overhead in the night sky, and also listening to the grainy beep . . . beep . . . beep . . . the satellite produced for radios around the world.
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We’ve just entered a beautiful liturgical season, surely not as prominent as Advent, Christmas, Lent or Easter, but a special time for the Church nonetheless. I speak of October, the Season of Saints. While the celebration of saints is scattered throughout the year, it seems that this month has a bounty of beautiful feast days that spark devotion and speak to the Catholic imagination in a particular way.
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Now that summer is winding down and another work year is upon us, one of the issues that we’ll be studying in the Diocese of Providence is the question of compensation for priests. Although our priests, along with the lay employees of the Diocese, have regularly received modest “cost of living” increases, it’s been a number of years since the basic compensation structure has been reviewed. Hence the current study seems to be warranted.
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After attending Sunday Mass in Florida not too long ago I came across the following admonition in the Sunday bulletin: “Please come to Mass early enough not to disrupt. Leave late enough not to insult. (The Mass does not end until the final blessing). Worship reverently enough not to distract. And dress proudly enough not to offend.”
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